Posts Tagged ‘Personal branding

Okay, as a marketer today, you can’t help but to see the potential coming from Twitter. I first learned about Twitter from a friend many years ago. But I generally avoid these social networking services because 1) I could end up wasting too much time on them 2) Not all services are created equal and not all services have longevity, so why bother?

However, Twitter has proved that it is here to stay for now…

So, as a marketer, I found myself wanting to learn more about Twitter, many months after when I probably should have. I set up a Twitter account. I haven’t Tweet yet, because I am not sure what I want to say… How do I want to brand myself on Twitter? Professional? Personal? Fun? Serious? Am I Jeannie as the Marketer? Jeannie as the Travel Lover? Some combination of all of the above?

But even in this early stage, I have learned a couple valuable lessons about Twitter and social media in general. Perhaps these are lessons you have learned yourself as well after some trial and error.

1. People will find you. I haven’t made a single Tweet. I haven’t announced my Twitter account anywhere. I have no links to my Twitter account. Yet, I have followers! Some of these followers are people I know. Some of these followers I don’t recognize. These followers perplex me more. They could just be complete strangers. Or they could have found me, through just Googling or whatever, and have some vested interest in learning more about me. Possibly a potential future business partner, or potential future boss? I don’t know. While I don’t think that is likely, the fact that I could not rule it out makes me think twice before just posting on Twitter anything that could be potentially damaging to my personal brand.

2. If you’re not ahead of the curve, you’re behind. I did not jump on the Twitter train when I first learned about it. By the time I finally decided to get a Twitter account set up, I was already too late. My most desired handle has been taken, just mere months ago! Instead of @jeanniechan (which is the most popular format), I had to settle for @jeannie_chan. So, what I have learned is that if the investment is low, go ahead and jump on the latest bandwagon! You could always get off it if you are not getting the pay off that you were expecting. But if you wait, you just may miss out!

Photo Credit: Jump on the social media bandwagon, originally uploaded by Matt Hamm.